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中国在11世纪的“商业革命”中伴随着一些重要技术的发展。在古代钢铁业,水作为动力被广泛应用,煤炭和焦炭开始取代木炭作为燃料,这一时期的高炉设计出现了最后一次重大进展。这类拥有新构造高炉的使用,就某种程度而言,成为了欧洲早期高炉设计的先兆,从19世纪到20世纪的中国传统钢铁工业中也能认识到这类高炉的一些情况。本文综述了宋元时期冶铁高炉建造和运行的现有证据材料,特别提到矿物燃料的使用。考古出土的宋元时期高炉有两种类型:穴筑于山坡内或是采用木框架夯土构筑。高炉中使用矿物燃料的证据包括文献资料(尤其是苏轼的著名诗篇《石炭歌》)、铁质文物的化学分析结果和放射性碳测年研究成果。未来对高炉矿渣的研究可能会提供关于矿物燃料如何被使用的可靠证据,但就目前而言,利用17、18世纪英国在高炉中使用煤和焦炭的经验进行比较研究,不啻为一有益的研究途径(本文原文发表于2001年,之后发表的考古材料未被考虑在内)。
China is accompanied by some important technological developments in the “Business Revolution” of the 11th century. In the ancient steel industry, water was used as a driving force and coal and coke began to replace charcoal as fuel. The last significant progress was made in blast furnace design during this period. The use of such new structural blast furnaces is, to some extent, a harbinger of the design of early European blast furnaces, recognizing some aspects of such blast furnaces from the 19th century to the 20th century in the traditional Chinese steel industry. This article summarizes the available evidence for the construction and operation of an iron-bearing blast furnace in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with particular reference to the use of fossil fuels. There are two types of blast furnaces in the Song and Yuan dynasties excavated: they are built on the slopes or constructed of rammed earth with wooden frames. Evidence of the use of fossil fuels in blast furnaces includes literature (especially the famous song poem “Song of Charcoal” by Su Shi), chemical analysis of iron artifacts and results of radiocarbon dating. Future research into blast furnace slag may provide credible evidence of how fossil fuels are used, but for the time being, it is not a useful study to compare the experience of using coal and coke in blast furnaces in the 17th and 18th centuries in the UK Pathways (This article was originally published in 2001, after which archaeological material was not considered.)